No, it started because Evilore made the old platform uninhabitable.
What you're saying is "A lot of people thought this thing I'm saying". Assuming that's true, that's still not proof of anything. All you're actually saying is "A lot of people made the same erroneous assumption I made". A lot of people assuming something isn't proof of anything, it just means a lot of people were wrong the same way your are.
Correct on all counts.
Were you on every Discord at the time? Did you read every single post? Do you have perfect recall? I point out that others have the same memories, and yet you out right say that I'm definitively wrong. Good luck here. I think this is the post the broke the camel's back for me.
All this proves is that people spinning false narratives in Discords has been a thing since day 0 (or even before).... which frankly doesn't surprise me one bit, lol.
I was a staff member at launch and
my impression of the ownership was always that Cerium had created an LLC and a few others owned shares (which, as it turns out, Cerium later bought from them). This was not hidden or obfuscated or anything (the ToS and Privacy Policy all reference the LLC). I never once got the impression that the ownership was some cooperative or whatever. Veelk is correct that this appears to be some sort of mass delusion, which would possibly explain why so many people are going "I thought this was community owned!!", but meh.
Personally I was fine with Cerium being the owner; he forked out the money and effort (including being automatically doxxed as LLCs are public information) to launch the site, he took the risk (Era could very well have not gotten any traction for all sorts of reasons and the site could have died pitifully within months) and the initiative. It was an investment, not a "grift", and it paid off. Hell, a lot of us posted on NeoGAF back then, despite knowing Evilore, who even pre-metoo was known to be a raging asshole, was the sole owner and was filthy rich from the content we all posted. 🤷♀️
To everyone saying "well, it shouldn't have been like that!!", I can only think: how, exactly, would
you have made it happen differently? Did
you (rhetorical "you" here) want to invest money in buying the software licenses, preparing the hosting, paying a tech team to create add-ons and run anti-DDOS scripts, doxxing yourself to create an LLC, hiring lawyers, overseeing policies and structures and staff and branding, overseeing the invite system for launch, and all that jazz? And if so, why didn't you?
"But I didn't know this was happening". Well, so what? Still nothing stopped you from taking the initiative with your "community" buddies to do what needed to be done to launch your community-owned websites. And let's assume that you had known: what would you have done to stop it? "Wait, no, Cerium, don't do this. I don't want the new forum to be owned by only you and 2 other guys." To which Cerium might have said : "ok, tough shit, I'm doing it anyway, you can join the new forum or make your own"... or maybe you'd say, "actually I do want to buy a share", but then Cerium might say "well I don't really trust you and/or like you actually so nah I'm good, you're on your own, best of luck". And he'd be within his rights honestly.
What I'm saying is that, like Veelk said, a lot of this discussion about "community ownership" is basically hot air. It sounds all feel-good and nice but no one seemingly knows what it means, how it would work in practice and reality. Same with "pay your mods", when you start to really think about what that would mean, and the ramifications of such a system, then even casting aside the staff's own wishes (which you shouldn't do, mind), suddenly you realize it's far more complicated than a feel-good slogan chant.
But, as was previously said, the idea of Era being "for the community" was in how it was driven and managed, not about how it was owned on a logistical level. That's just not how most websites are run at all, honestly.
Well it definitely leaves a bit of bad taste in your mouth doesn't it? The thought that a forum which lives because of its members gets sold and the members that contributed to its success don't get anything is a bit strange, leaves you with the feeling of getting used.
But in the end we can't complain, people provide content for free here and the admins made this possible, without them providing the infrastructure there would have been nothing. Let's hope for the best in the future and keep on keeping on.
See above. People were fine with making Evilore rich back on GAF. If you don't like how the content you create can drive traffic and generate revenue for someone... don't come. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Why is it that the "different opinions" that will get people banned are always in topics centering on race, bigotry, equality, and sexual representation?
I know right
I feel loved.
And by loved I mean hated.
You know I love you! <3
Why wasn't any of that cash poured back into ResetEra for all that good stuff we have been asking for for years:
Likes
Animated avatars
Signatures
Bleeeeech. I'm rather glad they invested in all those cool add-ons like Giftbot or the GOTY voting system or the Ticket system instead. xD
Not everything is a conspiracy, there isn't some secret plan or ulterior motive, Cerium set up ERA with others, bought out the others and now has had enough of running the site and sold it to a company that will stay hands off (hopefully)
What is this? A sane post that accurately summarizes the situation without being inflammatory? Good sir, I think you are on the wrong forum! ^^
